How SDA Funding Works: The NDIS Price Guide Explained

How SDA Payments Work

SDA payments are paid to registered SDA providers — the entity that owns or operates the dwelling. They are not paid to participants. This is a critical distinction that trips up many people new to the sector.

Payments are made per enrolled dwelling, per occupied place. If a three-bedroom SDA dwelling has two residents and one vacancy, the provider receives payment for the two occupied places only (subject to limited vacancy provisions, covered below).

The NDIA sets price limits — these are maximum amounts, not fixed prices. Providers can charge up to these limits but cannot exceed them. The actual payment a provider receives is the price limit minus the participant's rent contribution. Think of the NDIS payment as a top-up: the participant pays their capped rent, and the NDIS covers the difference up to the price limit.

Price limits vary by design category, building type, stock classification, location, and number of residents. Getting a handle on these variables is essential before modelling any SDA investment.

SDA Building Types

The SDA Rules 2020 define four building types. Each carries different price limits and suits different participant cohorts.

Building type affects pricing directly. Apartments and villas generally attract lower per-place payments than houses, but the economics can shift depending on the number of residents and the design category. Group homes carry the highest total payments per dwelling but serve larger resident groups.

Stock Classifications

Not all SDA dwellings are priced equally. The NDIA classifies each enrolled dwelling into one of four stock tiers, and the price limits differ substantially between them.

The gap between Post-2023 New Build and Legacy Stock pricing is large. This tiered structure is deliberate — the NDIA uses price signals to incentivise new, purpose-built SDA and gradually replace older stock that does not meet modern standards.

What Participants Pay in Rent

SDA participants contribute rent towards their housing. This is not optional — it is a mandatory contribution that offsets the NDIS payment to the provider.

The participant rent contribution is capped at:

• 25% of the Disability Support Pension
• Plus 25% of the Pension Supplement
• Plus 100% of Commonwealth Rent Assistance

At current rates (September 2025 to March 2026), the maximum reasonable rent contribution (MRRC) works out to $506.56 per fortnight — approximately $253 per week or $13,170 per year. This amount adjusts when pension and CRA rates change but remains modest relative to the total SDA price limits — which is precisely the point. The NDIS funding exists because the market alone cannot deliver accessible housing at rents participants can afford.

How SDA Pricing Has Changed

SDA price limits are not static. The NDIA reviews them periodically, and the changes can be substantial.

The most significant shift came with the 2022-23 SDA Pricing Review, which delivered an average 18.5% increase for new builds. Some categories saw far larger jumps — Improved Liveability and Robust category prices roughly doubled. Existing and legacy stock increases were more modest at around 7% nominally.

From 1 July 2023, GST was factored into pricing for new enrollments. The review also adjusted vacancy assumptions upward, increasing the assumed vacancy rate from 3-10% to 7.75-13%. This was a recognition that finding and matching participants takes longer than earlier models assumed — something many providers had been experiencing on the ground.

These pricing adjustments matter enormously for investment modelling. A feasibility study built on pre-2023 pricing assumptions will produce materially different returns than one using current price limits. For a broader look at how pricing uncertainty interacts with other investment risks, see our guide to SDA investment risks.

Vacancy Funding Rules

When an SDA place is unoccupied, providers do not receive full ongoing NDIS payments indefinitely. The vacancy rules are strict:

Once the vacancy payment period runs out, the provider receives zero income for that place until a new participant moves in. For single-resident dwellings — which includes most new High Physical Support apartments — there is no vacancy buffer at all. The dwelling either has a resident paying rent (with the NDIS topping up), or it generates nothing.

This is one of the sharpest risk factors in SDA investment. Vacancy does not just reduce returns — for single-resident properties, it eliminates revenue entirely. We cover this in more detail in our SDA investment risks article.

Where to Find Official SDA Pricing Information

The NDIA publishes SDA pricing and payment details on its website. The key reference is the NDIS SDA Pricing and Payments page, which includes the current price limits, payment rules, and worked examples.

For a full breakdown of the four design categories that drive pricing — Improved Liveability, Fully Accessible, Robust, and High Physical Support — see our SDA design categories guide.

Frequently Asked Questions